Precision environment planter and mulch applicator



)v 2, 1968 v J. TSCHUDY, JR 3,390,649

PRECISION ENVIRONMENT PLANTER AND MULCH APPLICATOR Filed March 9, 1966 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. JAY Isa/100V.

ATTORMX y 2, 1968 l v r J. TSCHUDY, JR 3,390,649

PRECISION ENVIRONMENT PLANTER AND MULCH APPLICATOR Fi led March 9, 19662 Sheets-Sheet 2 A nlllllllllll 1 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,390,649 PRECISION ENVIRONMENT PLANTER AND MULCHAPPLICATOR Jay Tschudy, Jr., Shawnee Mission, Kans., assignor toPrecision Agricultural Machinery Company, Phoenix, Ariz.,- a corporationof Arizona Filed Mar. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 532,961 2 Claims. (Cl. Ill-91)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and apparatus for applying a spotmulch of liquid material to a limited area immediately above andcontiguous to precision planted seeds and fertilizer in a plant row,particularly in a synchronized manner with a precision seed plantingapparatus.

This invention pertains to improvements in agricultural machinery and amethod of applying mulch to plant rows and is further directed to aprecision seed and fertilizer planter with a timed liquid mulchapplicator.

Presently there has been considerable interest in the use of asphalt andsimilar materials in liquid form as a mulch in agricultural practices.It is a present practice to plant the crop row and then spray anemulsion of asphalt along the crop row, the width of the sprayed bandalong the row being of varying widths, but customarily about 6 incheswide.

There has been some misunderstanding about the effect of the asphaltmulch. At one time it was thought that the asphalt mulch reducedevaporation under the mulch area throughout the growing season. Thisalmost certainly is not the case. It is now believed that the totalvalue of the asphalt mulch is derived only over a very short periodafter its initial application. Specifically, for a short period ofperhaps two weeks, it does retard evaporation and possibly moreimportantly raises the temperature of the soil under the mulch. Both ofthese effects would promote early germination of the seeds. Once theplants have emerged, however, the mulch has little if any furthereffect. Under present practice the use of the asphalt mulch Will bemarginal at best. If an asphalt mulch program is to be a real commercialsucess, it will be necessary to reduce costs.

With the above facts in mind, applicant has conceived that essentiallyall of the benefits of an asphalt mulch can be achieved at substantiallyreduced costs, if instead of spraying a wide band along the entire croprow, one sprays only a small area immediately adjacent to and around theplanted seed. To this end applicant plants the field with the plantseeds distributed on equal spacing centers using a precision plantersuch as shown in Patent 3,154,031 issued Oct. 27, 1964 and copendingapplication Ser. No. 518,122. Applicant attaches a spray head to theprecision planter to spray the emulsion only in the areas immediatelysurrounding the seeds. Preferably, the sprayed area would be a 2" x 2square with the seed being in the middle of the sprayed area. Thus, itcan be seen that there would be a substantial savings in the cost of theasphalt emulsion.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a method of spotmulching with a liquid mulch the small area immediately around theplanted seed in a plant row.

Still another object is to provide a method of precision planting seedand fertilizer along a plant row while appling a liquid mulch in arestricted area over the top of the planted seeds in an accurately timedoperation with the precision seed and fertilizer planting steps.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a 3,399,649 PatentedJuly 2, 1968 method of progressively spraying a liquid mulch on a smallarea immediately adjacent to and surrounding the planted seed in asynchronized manner with the precision planting of the seeds along aplant row.

Another object is to provide a method of and apparatus for planting thefield with plant seeds distributed on equal spacing centers by means ofa precision planter and then by means of a liquid much spray associatedwith the planter to spray the liquid much automatically only in theareas immediately surrounding the planted seeds.

Further features and advantages of this invention will appear from adetailed description of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a precision seed planter andsynchronized spot mulching machine incorporating the features of thisinvention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the planter belt and mulch sprayingnozzle indicated by the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the mulch spraytimer control indicated by the line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the cost of a liquid mulch on plantings undervarying conditions.

As an example of one embodiment of this invention there is shown aprecision seed planter and synchronized spot mulching apparatuscomprising a precision planter such as described in the above mentionedPatent 3,l54,- 031 in which there is provided an endless flat belt 19operating over a convex pulley 11 and a concave pulley 12 and having aseries of planting fingers or dibbles 13 extending outwardly from theouter face 14 of the belt 10. The pulleys 11 and 12 are suitablyjournaled on a frame 15 which is suitably connected to the usual towingtractor, not shown. As the precision planter described is towed along asuitably leveled plant row ground surface 16 the planting dibbles formlongitudinally spaced planting cavities 17 in which the planting dibbles13 and seed feed mechanism 18 deposits the required seed 19, andfertilizer and mulch granules 20.

Referring particularly to FIG. 1, when the dibble 13a withdraws from aplanting cavity 17a the soil around the cavity is caused to fall into itto cover the seeds 19 and fertilizer 20. As the frame 15 of the plantermoves along in the direction of the arrow 21 the planted cavities becomeprogressively exposed at the rear of the endless belt as at 17b. At therear of the frame 15 is mounted a liquid mulch dispensing nozzle 22having a suitable solenoid control valve 23 controlling the flow fromthe supply pipe 24 for the nozzle 22. The supply pipe 24 may beconnected to a suitable pressurized source of liquid mulch, onepreferred form of which is commercially available liquid asphaltemulsion.

The nozzle 22 is controlled by the solenoid valve 23 in such amannerthat a small spot or patch of asphalt emulsion 25 is spread overand immediately surrounding the planted seeds in the cavities 17b in aninterrupted spaced relationship along the plant row so that no emulsionis presented on the plant row between the planted seeds. To effect thesynchronized control of the intermittent application of the asphaltemulsion in exact timed relation with the spaced planting of the seeds,there is provided a suitable normally open control limit switch 26, FIG.3, having an operating arm 27 pivotally mounted on a suitable screw 28carried in a box 15a, mounted on the frame 15 and including a tensionspring 29 interconnected between the box 15a and the operating arm 27 toyieldingly bias the arm in a clockwise direction. An actuating roller 30is pivotally mounted on a suitable screw 30a on the other end of the arm27. An electrical contact 31 on the arm 27 is arranged to engage a fixedcontact 32 mounted in the box 15a.

A suitable source of electrical power such as the battery 33 has oneterminal grounded by the lead 34 and its other terminal suitablyconnected by a flexible lead 35 to the arm 27 and contact 31. The fixedcontact 32 is connected by a lead 35a to one terminal 36 of solenoidvalve 23 while the other terminal 37 is connected by a lead 38 to theground. Along one edge 39 of the endless belt are fixed a series ofraised dwell timing cam surfaces 40, each laterally aligned with thecenterline 13b of each dibble 13 and extending longitudinally of thebelt a limited distance 41-42 determined by the desired longitudinalextent 4344 desired for the emulsion spot 25 to be sprayed on the plantrow over the planted seeds 19.

Thus, as the frame moves forward in the direction of arrow 21 the roller30 of the limit switch 26 will be actuated to energize the solenoidvalve 23 to spray the liquid mulch over the planted seeds andfertilizer, and to deenergize the solenoid valve to stop spray flowbetween the planted seeds and fertilizer to provide an interrupted stripof asphalt mulch along the crest of the plant row. The width of thesprayed spots is determined by the adjustment of the laternal extent ofthe fan-shaped spray for the nozzle 22, the sized area to be determinedby the nature of the crop, weather conditions, and methods of irrigationas Well as soil conditions.

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating the cost of employing the method of thisinvention on row crops under varying conditions. The cost estimates arebased upon an assumed cost of 35 per gallon for asphalt emulsion withthe further assumption that a gallon of the emulsion will cover 83 sq.ft. of soil. The graph is made on the further assumption that the plantrows are spaced 38" apart with the spacing between seeds along the plantrow varying from 6" to 18". A series of curves are shown for cost wherethe actual area to be sprayed is, respectively, 2!! X 2!, 2 X 3!! 3 X3/! 3!! X 4'' 4/! X 4'! 4!! X 5!! 5" x 5", 5 x 6", and 6" X 6".

While the apparatus herein disclosed and described constitutes apreferred form of the invention, it is also to be understood that theapparatus is capable of mechanical alteration without departing from thespirit of the invention and that such mechanical arrangement andcommercial adaptation as fall within the scope of the appendent claimsare intended to be included herein.

Having thus fully set forth and described this invention what is claimedand desired to be obtained by United States Letters Patent is:

1. The method of automatically successively planting and liquid spotmulching plant seeds in a plant row comprising the steps of:

(A) successively planting the plant seeds in plant cavities ataccurately spaced intervals along the surface of a plant row,

(B) caving soil adjacent to and around said cavities containing theplanted seeds into said cavities to cover the same for germination andgrowth,

(C) and successively and simultaneously synchronized with said plantingoperations applying spots of liquid mulch of limited longitudinal andlateral extent over the soil covering said planted seeds atlongitudinally spaced intervals along said plant row.

2. A precision environment planting and mulching machine comprising incombination:

(A) an endless planter belt operating over a pair of horizontally spacedpulleys,

(B) planting dibbles projecting outwardly from the outer face of saidbelt for forming planting cavities in the ground surface, placing seedstherein and covering said seeds with soil,

(C) a planter frame journaled on and supporting said pulleys and belt inoperative position,

(D) a mulch dispensing device mounted on said frame to the rear of saidendless belt,

(E) a control device mounted on said frame actuated from undulatingsurfaces on the side of said belt to intermittently energize said mulchdispensing device for a limited time interval while said device ispassing over a planted and covered cavity in said plant row including,

(F) a normally open limit switch,

(G) and raised dwell timing cam surfaces on the side edge of said beltarranged to intermittently actuate said limit switch so as to energizesaid control device in synchronized relationship with the planted seedsin said plant row as said frame travels therealong.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,398,190 11/1921 Howard 11132,625,122 1/1953 Carelock 1113 3,094,809 6/1963 Kaufman et al. 4793,154,031 10/ 1964 Kappelmann 1117 3,175,523 3/1965 Kappelrnann Ill-893,221,681 12/1965 Snyder et al. 1113 2,909,869 10/ 1959 Dresser 47583,261,127 7/1966 Ferm et al. 4758 ROBERT E. BAGWILL, Primary Examiner.

